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Briefing Document No 12 - Page 5 of 6
Good News for the Poor? The Scottish Executive's First Social Justice Annual Report - Continued.
Points from Parliamentary Debate
1. SNP motion called for targets and measurements which are "sustainable over future administrations and subject to all-party Parliamentary approval";
· welcomed idea of Annual Report but complained about changes which had been made since milestones were set last year (eg re which year is taken as baseline, and re definitions);
· "compared with the Scottish average, the ratio of unemployed people in deprived areas has - according to the Executive itself - increased since new Labour came to power";
· figures don't recognise the "geography of unemployment" - future reports need figures broken down geographically;
· some targets are very vague, eg re quality and variety of homes (milestone 27)
2. Conservative motion called for "a civic society based on opportunities and responsibilities for all" and devolving power to "individuals, families and communities" as "essential steps to achieving social justice";
· complained that "the success of Labour's social justice strategy can be seen in the soaring numbers of homeless people";
· noted that the majority of measures mentioned in the report are reserved matters;
· policy shows too much central control - "only when it allows local action and responsibility can the Executive engender innovation"; the state cannot monopolise compassion because "doing so ignores the value of Scotland's charities, our faith communities … and the role of the family and extended family as a self-contained caring community"
3. Liberal Democrats "think that the higher rate of income tax should be increased so that more people can drop out the bottom end and pay no income tax at all, and so that improvements can be made in public services" (Donald Gorrie);
· cited credit unions as a good example of a bottom-up approach (Executive stress National Development Strategy for credit unions coming "in the next few months");
· agreed with SNP on the need for independent approach to statistics
4. Other concerns raised included:
· DSS Report which "says that there are 250,00 fewer children living in workless households but 100,00 more children living in poverty" (Tommy Sheridan);
· concern re deprived communities missing out because they are not in SIP areas;
· static number of 16-19-year olds not in education or employment (around 14%).
Commentary
(Reflecting concerns discussed in the Scottish Churches Social Inclusion Network)
· There are two new emphases within social justice - on rural poverty and on "community empowerment":
(a) Some steps have been taken towards the "bottom up" approach which churches and others called for last year, and there is at least talk of giving power over their futures to local communities (although must amount to more than focus groups and people's juries). We may have some common ground with the Tories on this, while not sharing their hostility to what the state can and should do.
(b) The report includes some interesting academic "perspectives on social justice", one of which gives useful data on rural costs of living and exclusion and calls attention to the "very uneven geography of rural regeneration". It notes, for example, Shelter's evidence that for every affordable house built in south-west Scotland, twelve were sold off through the right to buy. For the future, it suggests "rural exclusion-proofing", by which all policies would be tested for their impact on people with low incomes in rural areas.
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